Concrete pipes are lifted to and from trucks and into an in-use position by the use of hooks, clamps and harnesses. The hooks, clamps and harnesses are attached to a crane, forklift or excavator. Harnesses are often one or more chain slings that are positioned around a concrete pipe and supported by a hydraulic arm of the excavator or crane. Hooks are specifically shaped metal plates that can attach to the ends of open pipes and are lifted with the use of chains attached to hydraulic arms. Lifting clamps are usually scissor type clamps that use a jaw and pivot arrangement to clamp about the circumference of the pipe or form a vice-type grip that clamps to the inside and outside of the pipe wall at one end.
Examples of pipe lifting clamps include the pipe lifting apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,731 which uses gripping arms with scissor-type linkages to clamp about the outside of the pipe. U.S. Pat. No. 7,950,709 describes a lifting clamp that has two opposed arms that clamp to opposite sides of the pipe. Each of the described lifting clamps are attachable to actuating or hoisting apparatus
The aforementioned lifting apparatus are designed and made to lift and manipulate one pipe at a time. The disadvantage to this arrangement is that multiple pipes need to be moved in some situations and the use of lifting apparatus that can only move one pipe at a time is inefficient and time consuming.